...…

The First Stage was coming to an end as there were only three minutes remaining on the Arena Clock.

With this, the results on different battle arenas were already out since all of the surviving players from these battlefields had already been determined. And these guys were just only waiting for the clock to hit zero before everything could be official.

But in the middle of all of these quiet battlefields being broadcasted on different online platforms and entertainment channels, there was a certain battle arena that was still on its peak despite the stage was about to end.

Due to this, all of the players watching the broadcast of the Shadow Ranking Cup were immediately drawn to this certain battle arena.

It didn't matter whether they were a new viewer that just became curious about what was happening, or a player that was already watching the battle from the very beginning; what's important, the attention of all of these players were being dragged by the ongoing fight in this battle arena.

The fast pace and high intensity battle that was taking place on this battlefield, was almost unmatched compared to the other battles that everyone had watched so far.

What's more, the protagonists of this battle were the rising stars of their respective Kingdom and Empire. So, coupled with their supporters and fans, the popularity of this match suddenly rose with a great margin.

And because of these, all of the platforms where this battle was being broadcasted was suddenly bursted in discussion. There were even some gambling platforms that started calling for bets just for this certain battle.

...

Meanwhile, there was a pair of players watching the live battle from a special virtual room directly connected to the battle arena.

One of them was a knight with a black full-body armor with some golden linings on its surface. The player had taken off his help so that he could watch the battle properly. This guy had a very handsome face, which was more than enough for a lot of girls to go out with him.

While watching the fight, this guy was also checking a virtual screen beside him from time to time. Strangely enough, what was projected on that virtual screen was the battle that he was currently watching.

In fact, he was not really watching the battle projected on the screen. What he was checking was actually the seven-digit number at the upper left corner of the screen that kept on rising as the battle continued.

And when this guy saw that the speed of the increasing numbers had no signs of dropping, the man suddenly used his right hand to comb his blonde hair backwards while saying. "Tsk! Why is this guy always attracting attention even if he doesn't want it? While me, on the other hand, always need to jump in front of the most troublesome things just to get it?"

After that, he turned his head at the man sitting at the chair beside him and asked. "What do you think about? Is there something with me or this guy has some magic on him?"

Sitting beside this man was yet another player in leather armor. He was also quite good looking and was at least on par with the man beside him in terms of looks. It was just this guy was always wearing a serious expression on his face and glaring eyes, which was a reason why he was always being mistaken as delinquent.

The red curly hairs on his head together with the pair of crimson pupils of his eyes, were making his look even more fearsome. So, it was natural for someone to mistake him as someone that tended to create troubles in every place he went.

This guy refused to remove his sight at the pair of players fighting in the battle arena even after hearing the other guy. But even if that was the case, he still gave his reply. "I am pretty sure that Shin Bro is not intending to get those attention that he was getting-…"

He was still in the middle of talking when the other guy suddenly interrupted his words. "So, are you saying that there is something wrong with me then? Are you siding with that guy now, Leo? Do you want me to remind you who is stronger between the two of us?"

Hearing this, the red-haired guy suddenly smirked and said. "Heh! Are you threatening me? Remember, you are the one that asked that question. And let me also remind you that I am not that weak compared to you in this game, Brother Arthur," without removing his sight on the ongoing battle.

It turned out that this pair of players were the duo of Leonard and Arthur, who were labeled as Godlike Players standing at the very peak of this game; the War God: Simba and Dragon God: Siegfried.

"Oh~! I see that you finally grew some balls to refute me now, huh? How about we have a few rounds of sparring match after Shin was done with his battle?" asked Arthur provoking while wearing a huge grin with his lips.

Leonard didn't get intimidated and sneered. "Fine by me. But make sure to prepare yourself as you might be the one to lose this time."

When Arthur heard that confident reply, he couldn't help but grin further upwards and said. "I am looking forward to that."

After saying that, he then turned his head at battle once again before asking. "Who do you think will win this match?"

It took Leonard a few seconds before giving his reply. "I must admit that I was taken aback when I saw Shin Bro's rapid improvements, he may even catch on us in no time. And I will not be surprised if it takes him a week or two."

Hearing this, Arthur suddenly frowned his eyebrows and said with an annoyed tone. "You didn't answer my question."

Leonard suddenly chuckled when he saw Arthur's actions and said. "Do you even need to ask me that? From the looks of things, those two are just fooling around and seem to be doing a sparring match instead of fighting seriously. It is quite obvious that they are just using this match to improve themselves."

"What's more, it was impossible for the two of them to end this battle unless one of them went all-out, which is pretty much impossible to happen. Shin Bro is not that stupid to show all of his cards in the early stage of the tournament."

Arthur suddenly clicked his tongue after hearing this and said. "Tsk! Then what about if ever they've gone all-out? Who do you think will win? Of course, I want your honest opinion while disregarding your friendship with Shin."

Leonard suddenly shook his head when he heard this while wearing a bitter smile with his lips. "I don't know why you want to hear about my opinion too much. But I let me ask you first, how am I supposed to know about the result without having the whole picture about their strengths? So, the result of this match is still a draw from what I can see."

Finally having the reply that he wanted, Arthur suddenly pursed his lips and rested his chin on his right hand while saying. "Is that so? But strange enough, I can somehow see the result of this battle even if I don't know their real strengths."

Leonard suddenly frowned his brows the moment he heard that and said. "Huh? What do you mean? Is it because of your in-game personal trait? But the ability of Pinnacle Omniscience is not to foresee the future."

Arthur shrugged his shoulders after hearing this and said. "I am also not sure, but I can somehow predict Shin and Owen's movements just watching their battle. And with those predictions, I can somehow deduce the result of this battle. Maybe this is due to the tricks that I had learned about my 'Foresight' talent in Real World."

Leonard suddenly became interested and asked curiously. "Oh~! That was interesting. So, who is the winner of this battle from what you can see?"

"As for that-…" Arthur trailed his words for a moment before completing his reply. "It is the one with a perfected play style compared to the other."

"But we are still talking about the guy who is always bending our beliefs," refuted by Leonard while wearing a smirking smile with his lips.

Arthur suddenly clicked his tongue when he heard this and said. "Tsk! That is why I don't dare to voice it out. And that is also the reason why I want to see the result of this fight no matter what. It is for me to see whether I am going to be defeated despite not fighting him directly."

...

Going back in the battle arena, the battle between Shin and Owen was reaching its very peak.

Cling!

Clang! Clang!

The contest between these two players completely reflected a pair of completely different types of battle styles. But at the same time, there were some similarities in their styles.

One of them was a simple but steady battle style with the use of his longsword and round shield. The other, on the other hand, was a complex style of fighting with a quick on top of that.

Shin kept on switching the form of the sheath of his sword between its three forms; a longsword for hacking and slashing attacks, a sword rapier for stabbing and thrusting attacks, and its original sheath form for defending.

But despite having this kind of complex play style, Shin was still unable to crack Owen's absolute defense; he seems like a steady mountain that couldn't be moved even if he was being assaulted by a heavy storm.

Then…

Clang!

Shin failed to completely defend his opponent's attack and resulted for the sheath of his sword being thrown in the air.

Seeing that Shin's defense was blown away, Owen didn't hesitate anymore and grabbed that opportunity and tried to end this battle. First, he placed his shield in front of him and blocked Shin's sight with it before moving forward.

When Shin saw that, he quickly took some consecutive steps backwards and tried to distance himself from Owen while also checking the spot where the sword-sheath would land.

And when Shin was able to position himself at the landing spot of the sheath and prepare himself to catch it, Owen suddenly removed his shield in front of him and quickly thrusted the hiding sword behind it.

Shin knew that he would not be able to catch the sword-sheath in time the moment he saw Owen's attack. And due to that, he was forced to take a couple of steps backward while using the [Yamato] to redirect the trajectory of the sword of his opponent.

Shing!

Shin used the forward momentum of his opponent to lead Owen at continuously moving forward. Then he suddenly used his rotating motion to dodge his moving opponent before leaping towards his opponent's back while also doing a spinning flip midair.

At the same time, the falling sheath suddenly transformed into its rapier form while descending towards the ground. And while Shin was doing his spinning flip, this rapier was almost upon Shin.

But instead of catching it, Shin suddenly kicked the hilt of the descending sword and sent it straight at the back of his opponent's head.

Tak!

Swoosh!

But the sword failed to hit its target since Owen leaned his body towards his front, barely avoiding the attack and letting the sword fly past above his head.

And right after dodging, he quickly turned his body around while also thrusting his sword towards Shin, who already had his feet back on the ground and was in the middle of swinging his sword downwards.

But right before they were able to land their first hit on their opponent's bodies, the two of them suddenly halted their movements; Owen's sword stopped right in front of his opponent's chest while Shin's sword paused above his opponent's head.

It was because they heard a loud notification suddenly sounded in the whole arena.

"Looks like this is where this ends. Let's meet again at the other stage of the tournament" said Owen with a bitter smile on his face.

Hearing this, Shin suddenly smirked and said. "Sure, let's settle the result of this battle some other time. But make sure that you are going to survive until then."

"Exactly my thoughts," replied Owen as their bodies turned into specks of lights that dissipated a little later.

And together with the end of this battle, the first stage of the Shadow Ranking Cup had finally concluded.

...